Against Nature - (Penguin Classics) by Joris-Karl Huysmans (Paperback)

Against Nature (A Rebours) by Joris-Karl Huysmans is a wildly original fin-de-siècle novel that exploded like a meteorite upon its release in 1884.

This revised edition of Robert Baldick's lucid translation features a new introduction and a chronology, as well as Huysmans's original 1903 preface and reviews from writers including Mallarmé, Zola, and Wilde.

The novel follows the decadent, ailing aristocrat Des Esseintes, who retreats to an isolated villa and indulges his taste for luxury and excess, glutting his aesthetic appetites with classical literature and art, exotic jewels, rich perfumes, and a kaleidoscope of sensual experiences.

Huysmans's innovative and challenging writing style has made him a principal architect of the fin-de-siècle imagination, and Against Nature is now recognized as a cult classic.

If you enjoyed this novel, you might also enjoy Huysmans's The Damned (La-Bas), also available in Penguin Classics.